The World Series Is Set – FOX Is Ecstatic

The executives at FOX have to be happy with the status of MLB today.  The World Series will pit the Dodgers against the Yankees meaning that the two largest TV markets in the country are represented.  Unless the Series is a sweep with four blowout games, this ought to be a ratings bonanza for MLB and for FOX.  Moreover, the Series does not begin until this Friday meaning the network gets to hype it for several days.

I read somewhere that this is the first World Series in MLB history where both teams have a player with 50 home runs in the lineup.  I wonder if there is a prop bet out there – – I did a cursory check and did not find it – – on who will hit the longer home run, Ohtani or Judge.

Given the regular season success for both of these teams over the years, I was surprised to learn that the last time the Dodgers and Yankees met in the World Series was in 1981.  Notwithstanding the length of time that has transpired since the last time these two teams met in the Series, the Yankees/Dodgers is the most common series matchup; this will be the 12^th time it has happened.

While the current news about MLB and the World Series is upbeat, there is a story out there that just makes no sense to me.  The folks who tinker with baseball rules seem to be emboldened by the successful implementation of the pitch clock and the larger bases and even the “shift limitations” to the point that they want to tinker some more.  And the latest one seems to me to be the reinvention of the flat tire.  Supposedly, they want to make a rule that the starting pitchers in a game have to pitch through 6 full innings.  Obviously, there have to be caveats to such a rule and the ones under consideration are:

• A starter can be removed after he has thrown 100 pitches even if that is before 6 full innings.
• A starter can be removed if he has given up 4 or more earned runs in less than 6 full innings.
• A starter can be removed due to injury, but that starter then must go on the IR for a stint as a way to prevent phony injuries that miraculously heal overnight.

Some have speculated that the impetus of these considerations is the desire to eliminate games with an “opener” on the mound and/or the increasingly popular “bullpen games”.  Since I do not care one way or the other about things like “bullpen games”, my sense is that some folks in MLB have too much time on their hands.

And speaking of injuries that miraculously heal overnight, did you notice last night that Davante Adams’ hamstring injury that kept him out of the Raiders’ last three games was completely healed as a result of his plane ride from Sin City to the Big Apple.  Clearly, his hamstring injury was aggravated by the longitudinal status of Las Vegas and benefited from the lower levels of longitude in NYC.

The NFL trades last week of Adams and Amari Cooper led Dan Daly to post this on his Twitter account:

• This’ll make ya laugh.
• The combined career totals for Davante Adams & Amari Cooper are: 1,678 catches 21,940 receiving yards 168 TD receptions
• Pretty good, right?
• Jerry Rice’s are 1,700 – 25,140 – 219.

Moving on …  All is not peaches and cream in NYC this morning despite the World Series contestants and Davante Adams’ health.  Reports from last week said that Fireman Ed – – the Jets’ super fan – – thinks that he is being abandoned by his beloved team.  According to a report at ESPN.com, Fireman Ed believes that the Jets are “phasing him out” and limiting his screen time on the Jumbotron in the stadium.  This an injustice of gargantuan proportion; leaders from around the world need to pay less attention to trivial items such as world peace, pandemics and hunger so that they can get to the bottom of this matter.  A team might be considering phasing out an attention-seeking clown; who would ever have thought that could happen?

Switching gears …  I never want to see players incur serious injuries.  When I find a player – or a coach – who is despicable, I will root for them to lose every game they take part in, but I don’t wish injury on them.  I say that as a backdrop to this statement:

• Deshaun Watson ruptured his Achilles Tendon yesterday and is out for the season.  That is probably a good thing for the Cleveland Browns.

Watson is signed with the Browns through the end of the 2026 season and the Browns owe him a total of $92M over that time span injured or healthy.  Deshaun Watson is not worth anywhere near that salary even in the inflation-driven world of NFL QB salaries and now the team can stop putting him out there as its QB and begin to “phase him out”.  It may or may not make sense to “phase out Fireman Ed”; it makes perfect sense to “phase out Deshaun Watson”; now the Browns can do that without the owner looking like the football-genius equivalent of ESPN’s “Booger Mobile”.  [Aside: Let that “production innovation” be permanently put to rest.]

Finally, I mentioned the “Booger Mobile” above; so, let me close with this from Booger McFarland:

“Find somebody who has been successful and learn how to do it. Find somebody who has been unsuccessful and learn how not to do it. The clues are there. Find ’em.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………